How to hire a sawyer

How to hire a sawyer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step sawyer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a sawyer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new sawyer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a sawyer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A sawyer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, sawyers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of sawyers.

   Type of Sawyer	Description	Hourly rate
   Sawyer	Woodworkers manufacture a variety of products such as cabinets and furniture, using wood, veneers, and laminates. They often combine and incorporate different materials into wood.	$12-19
   Saw Operator	Saw operators are responsible for setting up and operating power saws to slot, cut, and trim metallic and non-metallic materials. They are the ones who choose and install blades on machinery using hand-tools and verify dimensions of finished material using measuring devices... Show more	$12-18

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Safety Procedures
   • Tape Measure
   • CNC
   • Load Trucks
   • Equipment Maintenance
   • Table Saws
   • Band Saws
   • Floor Trusses
   • Roof Trusses
   • Machine Operators
   • Fire Line
   • Mathematics
   • Assembly Line
   • Drill Press

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Provide guidance and leadership to manage maintenance and activities, equipment inspection, overhauling, repairing, and installing mechanisms.
   • Fall harvest Christmas trees, summer maintenance shearing/pruning, fertilizing fields and previously clear cut wild forest terrain.
   • Operate table see, bender, butt welder, lathe and CNC router.
   • Provide leadership, management and training to see teams for wildland fire suppression.
   • Operate sawmill, bobcat with various unique attachments, knuckle crane to complete loading, unloading, and assembly.
   • Operate battery of circular saws to cut plastic blocks containing ceramic-coat aluminum rods to length for processing into electronic resistors.

   More sawyer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the sawyer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A sawyer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a sawyer in Iowa may be lower than in Oregon, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level sawyer. Additionally, a sawyer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average sawyer salary

   $15.77hourly

   $32,810 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level sawyer salary

   $26,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average sawyer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Oregon	$40,527	$19
   2	Washington	$38,584	$19
   3	Nevada	$38,254	$18
   4	California	$37,058	$18
   5	Massachusetts	$36,995	$18
   6	Colorado	$36,899	$18
   7	North Carolina	$36,312	$17
   8	Wisconsin	$35,303	$17
   9	South Carolina	$34,770	$17
   10	Tennessee	$33,699	$16
   11	Michigan	$33,144	$16
   12	Georgia	$32,812	$16
   13	Utah	$32,580	$16
   14	New York	$31,684	$15
   15	Texas	$31,498	$15
   16	Iowa	$31,439	$15
   17	Virginia	$31,249	$15
   18	Arizona	$30,568	$15

   Average sawyer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Hexcel	$37,673	$18.11
   2	Carter Lumber	$36,049	$17.33	3
   3	Atkore International	$35,581	$17.11	1
   4	Pacific Coast Building Products	$34,791	$16.73
   5	Brinker International	$34,049	$16.37
   6	Quanex Building Products	$33,832	$16.27
   7	Greystar Real Estate Partners	$33,670	$16.19
   8	Builders FirstSource	$32,547	$15.65	10
   9	Vail Resorts	$32,466	$15.61
   10	US LBM	$32,223	$15.49	3
   11	DCI	$32,132	$15.45
   12	Tindell's Building Materials	$31,149	$14.98
   13	84 Lumber	$31,088	$14.95

4. Writing a sawyer job description

   A job description for a sawyer role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a sawyer job description:

   Sawyer job description example

   • Referral Bonus
   • Paid Time Off
   • Holiday Pay
   • Sick Pay
   • Health Benefits
   • Vision Benefits
   • Life Insurance
   • ST/LT Disability
   • 401k Retirement Plan with Match
   • Tuition Reimbursement
   • Flexible Work Schedules

   About the Position:

   • Full - Time
   • 8 Hour shifts
   • Monday-Friday
   • Primary duties include laying out metal stock or workpieces such as castings, plates, or machine parts, to indicate location, dimensions, and tolerances necessary for further processing such as machining, welding, or assembly.
   • Study blueprints, sketches, models, or other specifications and plans layouts.
   • Examines workpieces and verifies such requirements as dimensions and squareness.
   • Lift and position workpieces in relation to surface plates.
   • Verifies positions with measuring instruments such as gauge blocks, height gauges, and dial indicators.
   • Determines reference points and computes layout dimensions.
   • Marks or scribes layout lines.
   • Inspects machined parts to verify conformance to specifications.
   • Adds dimensional details to blueprints or prepares dimensional drawings to be followed by other workers.

   Requirements:

   • 2-5 years previous experience preferred.
   • Must be able to work in a fast paced environment and have accurate measurement skills.
   • Pre-employment drug/alcohol screen required.

   Allied Systems Company was founded in 1976 as a fabricator of material handling equipment for the wood products industry. Since that time, Allied has expanded greatly and now owns several different product lines, including Allied Marine Crane, Allied Winch, Wagner Chip- Dozer, Wagner Coal Dozer, Wagner Lumberjack, Wagner Steel Handler, Long Reach Attachments, and Freeman Hay Handling Equipment.

   We are an Equal Opportunity Employer

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find sawyers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any sawyers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level sawyers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your sawyer job on Zippia to find and recruit sawyer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with sawyer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new sawyer

   Once you've selected the best sawyer candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new sawyer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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